The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1968) was one of the most popular—and best scored—TV series of its era. For four seasons (as well as a spin-off series, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E.), composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, Morton Stevens, Lalo Schifrin, Gerald Fried, Robert Drasnin, Nelson Riddle and Richard Shores provided exciting, jazzy and suspenseful scores for the series' globetrotting spy adventures.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was so successful that M-G-M created no less than eight feature films, primarily adapted from the series' two-part episodes. These films were by and large destined for the international audience, and to this day many fans throughout the globe know U.N.C.L.E. not by the television episodes, but the feature-film adaptations.

For this reason, this fourth volume of Man From U.N.C.L.E. music from FSM—following our three 2CD sets released in 2002, 2003 and 2004—is a definitive collection of the feature-film soundtracks, intended to please the fan who discovered U.N.C.L.E. via the big screen, as well as anyone interested in yet more unreleased music from the franchise.

The films themselves ran the gamut from having mostly original scores (such as Gerald Fried's stereo music recorded for One of Our Spies Is Missing and The Karate Killers); to featuring new music written by the same composer as the related TV episode (such as Morton Stevens's music for The Spy With My Face); to mostly reusing the TV episode scores, often with a newly recorded main and end title.

Whatever the case, all eight feature films are represented on this CD, with the most space devoted to the ones with original music. While some cues were previously included on our earlier volumes, most have never before been released, and all of the selections are programmed to reflect their feature-film incarnations, rather than the television sources. Music from One of Our Spies Is Missing, The Karate Killers and How to Steal the World is in stereo; the other scores are in mono, although the trumpet solo in the main and end titles for To Trap a Spy has been panned to the right to give an impression of stereo.

As always with FSM's U.N.C.L.E. releases, the album has been produced and annotated by renowned U.N.C.L.E. music authority Jon Burlingame, whose liner notes chronicle the origins of each score and cue.

Gerald Fried (b. 1928) contributed scores to some of the most famous 1960s TV series including Star Trek ("Amok Time"), Gilligan's Island, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Lost in Space. His career began in the 1950s with several features for his Bronx friend Stanley Kubrick (The Killing, Paths of Glory) and has also encompassed classic '50s horror like The Return of Dracula and, into the '70s and '80s, landmark longform television such as Roots. His scores are distinguished by his distinctive rhythms and also colorful writing for woodwinds (he is an oboe player).

What to say about Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004), the reason so many of us are soundtrack collectors in the first place? The Los Angeles native knew early on he wanted to write music for the movies, had an extensive training in television in the 1950s (starting at CBS), and went on to an unparalleled career in the movies—capable of brilliance in every genre, and beloved by his peers and fans. FSM has released as many of his scores as we could get our hands on, from classic TV work like The Man From U.N.C.L.E. to famous features (Patton) and obscure gems like The Illustrated Man and 100 Rifles...heck, make that all of them. Jerry, we love you and miss you! IMDB

Nelson Riddle (1921-1985) is perhaps the greatest arranger of all time; his work for Frank Sinatra alone is legendary. His film and TV credits include theatrical outgrowths of his Rat Pack music (the original Ocean's Eleven), longrunning '60s and '70s TV series like Route 66, Batman (of which FSM released the feature film version) and Emergency, and TV movies and miniseries extending into the 1980s. IMDB

Morton Stevens (1929-1991) was a veteran film and primarily television composer who wrote the famous theme to Hawaii Five-0 and contributed episode scores to all manner of classic shows, including Thriller and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. He was a friend of Jerry Goldsmith's and had a similarly modern orchestral style on many projects; he completed the scoring of the miniseries Masada when Goldsmith was unavailable. In addition to his work as a composer, Stevens was head of music at CBS' West Coast operations (a lengthy stint that began in 1965) during which time he oversaw the scoring of many notable series. IMDB